A new Fiero Owner

Hey, so i just got my first car, and it is a 88 fiero formula 2.8L 135 hp V6. I bought the fiero from a family friend who is a mechanic, and he got it from a teen who had him put $2,500 worth of work into it, but the kid only paid $500 of it. so the teen had to give him the car because he could not pay for the work. the work included: new brakes, new calipers, new brake lines, new radiator, new tires, new door, new spark plugs, cleaning the engine, tune up, and a oil change. i am buying the fiero for $1,500 outright with cash, and the car runs and sounds great. My question is, What is your guys and gals advice to a seventeen year old who owns a fiero?

Don't own one?

This is more a car for a collector.....not for everyday driving....fixing it is a little costly....

The '88 was the best of the four years, with all the improvements to the engines and suspensions.....GT model looked pretty good.......they were ready to improve this vehicle with a 3.8 turbo, but due top lack of sales, they stopped production....

V-6, had some zip, especially if it had the manual 5 speed......the automatic was a bit of a dog.....

Main problem with this car was the underneath.....liked to trap fluids/salt, and this would rust out the underside components......rusted brake, coolant, fuel lines, cradles, suspension components, etc.

Was ahead of it's time as far as body panels go....plastic....no rusting and could take a slight "hit"....

If you like a low rider, this is your car......a challenge for us older guys to get out of the vehicle....

It's a 25 year old car......good luck with it..... but be prepared to spend money to keep this vehicle going.....

I really like the Fiero. I briefly owned an '84 4 cyl/4spd. A few years ago, I shopped around for a V6 Fiero, with a focus on an '88. I could not find one '88 for sale, at any price and the older models were priced out of reach. (I ended up with a '84 Supra. )

They are great cars and quite collectable. Tech II is spot-on. These cars require somewhat more care than an ordinary car because of the age and the many unusual engineering features. But it's worth it. Good Fieros, especially the '88 v6 models are collectable and getting hard to find. Your car will only go up (slowly) in value.

The '88's were significantly better cars than the '84 through 87's mostly because of a thoroughly redesigned steering and suspension systems. You see, GM did not quite fully develop the Fiero when it first came out. They had many cool features but their performance was pretty mediocre. Improvements were gradually introduced year by year. Unfortunately, it was not improved fast enough. Competitive cars, like the Toyota MR2 thoroughly eclipsed the Fiero. By '88 it was sinking fast, simply because GM did not put their best foot forward soon enough.

So GM pulled the plug on the Fiero in mid-88, because the 60,000-unit annual sales was not enough for GM to justify an entire assembly plant and development program specifically for this car. It's a real shame - Toyota (MR2) and Mazda (Miata) proved that a lower -volume small sporty car was, and is a profitable and beneficial venture.

On top of this, the Fiero really needed a rev-happy, powerful DOHC V-6 to remain competitive. Sadly, GM actually built one shortly after the Fiero went out of production - and all GM could do is stuff it into wheezy family sedans... because they killed their best small car!

But that double overhead cam v-6 had too many problems....

2.8 with a turbo would have been nice.......I remember the 2.0 turbo in the Sunbird, had some zip, but I don't think it was meant for this car...

Too bad, because there were a lot of improvements on the board for '89....I heard there were a lot of test cars made with these improvements, and then GM just scrapped them.....now those would have been something to get a hold of.....

Did you not read the 2nd and 3rd posts?

Best car in the world? No....not by a long shot....

Did you not read the 2nd and 3rd posts?

Best car in the world? No....not by a long shot....

That is a matter of opinion.

But with the fiero, what everyone has said about collector is correct. This is a fun little car!!! Main draw back will be any repairs. That engine is crammed in there so tight to normally easy repairs require a contortionist for a mechanic. :smokin:

Hell, it was my first car. All I can say is HAVE FUN WITH IT!!!!!!!!!